Book your 2019 Disney World trip today!

Are you dreaming of Disney, but out of vacation time or a travel budget for 2018? Well, now’s the time to start planning for trip for 2019! Booking has opened for next year so you can get your reservation secured and start thinking about the really fun stuff – dining reservations and fastpasses, of course!

For a stress free trip planning experience and to make sure you get the most bang for your buck, email me today at beckyg@castledreamstravel.com. I love helping people plan trips and my planning services are totally free to you – so why not?

Why book now? Well, here are some of the reasons why you don’t want to wait:

Small Deposit that’s Fully Refundable, no charge for changes

For me, if I’m thinking about a trip one of the biggest reasons why I might not want to book right away is because I want to make 100% sure I’ll be able to go. However, with Disney you can cancel or make changes with absolutely no penalty until 30 days before you travel. That means if you book a trip for February 2019 and then decide that you’d rather go in April, or you can’t go at all, you get your deposit back without any penalty. The deposit for packages is only $200, and for room only reservations it’s the cost of 1 night, so you don’t even have to pay the full amount at the time of booking.

The remainder of your balance is due 30 days before travel for packages (this is anything other than just a room reservation, like a package including park tickets or the dining plan) and at check-in for a room only reservation.

To make sure you get what you want

3 years ago you could wait a lot longer to book a Disney trip and still get what you wanted. These days the economy has improved, which means more people are going to Disney and able to plan further in advance. If you want to make certain to get the resort you want at the time you want it, booking ahead of time is a smart way to go. Many of the values are selling out even 5-6 months in advance, and if you’re looking to stay in the Epcot area around Food and Wine Festival time (which now spans pretty much all of September, October, and half of November), you need to plan ahead.

View of the Boardwalk from Atlantic Dance Hall

Discounts can be applied later

Sometimes I have people say to me, “I want to wait to see what discounts come out.” I never recommend this strategy unless you think you wouldn’t go at all without a discount. I wouldn’t wait for two reasons:

Discounts usually only come out maybe 4-5 months ahead of time. We only are just seeing discounts now for October-December of 2018. If you’re waiting until 4 months out to book you’ll see a lot less resort availability, and you’ll also miss your 6 month window to book dining at the best time to make sure you get what you want.

Discounts are never guaranteed, and lately have been very limited. The fall discount that just came out did not apply to any of my clients traveling for one reason or another (it was only for a handful of resorts, only certain days, etc.)

I ESPECIALLY don’t recommend waiting for free dining to book your trip. The availability of free dining has been less and less lately, with only a small amount of reservations available at off times. On top of that, I don’t think it’s always the best deal. Often a room discount will actually save you more money in the long run than getting the free dining plan.

Make other reservations

There are perks to staying at a Disney resort, and those include being able to book your dining reservations and fastpasses before the general public. If you’ve booked your Disney stay more than 6 months ahead of time you can take advantage of these perks.

If you’re looking for harder to get reservations, like a meal at Be Our Guest or a ride on Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog Dash, the earlier your vacation is booked the better your chances!

The cool stuff happening in 2019

And of course one great reason to book your trip for 2019 right now is that you can start getting excited about all of the great things happening next year! The biggest thing, of course, is Star Wars, which is sometime towards the end of 2019 (and if you want to be there for the madness of that opening you DEFINITELY want to book early!). Hollywood Studios is also going to see Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway next year, and most of the new restaurants should be open in Disney Springs. Several other new attractions or shows have been announced but there’s not opening dates yet.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Becky!

I'm a huge Disney fan in my early 30's and always trying to find a way to put a little bit of Disney into everyday life. I live in Pennsylvania but travel to the theme parks several times a year - I'm an annual passholder at Disney World! In addition to Disney I love traveling, running, and theater.

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